An Old Married Couple
by Acen Warren Halliwell
Summary: Sequel to "Cardinal Rule". After a rushed wedding and meeting with an old friend, the marriage between Ted and Victoria starts to slowly suffer because of some unresolved issues, but will those things really be able to destroy their marriage or will a miracle help them get back to what they once were? Rated T to be safe.
1. Recap and Intro

**Hey guys, I'm back! I promised you guys a "Cardinal Rule" sequel AGES ago, but I've gotten side-tracked with my other projects, so that stopped me from getting to this for a while. Sorry for making you guys wait, but I finally got started, so that has to count for something, right? If anyone reading this hasn't read "Cardinal Rule", it'd be good to read it because it goes more in depth on the world that this story's set in. So I'm just gonna give a quick recap of Cardinal Rule and give you guys an intro as to what you should expect in the story.**

**"****Cardinal Rule" was set in the alternate universe where Ted and Victoria had switched lives, meaning Victoria went to Wesleyan, became Marshall and Lily's best friends and she met Barney and Robin, while Ted lived out Victoria's life. I also introduced an original character, Ava, that plays a major part in the story as Ted's best friend. Ted discovered that Victoria had cheated on him and broke up with her, leading Victoria (with her friends' help, of course) to try and win him back. After a few failed attempts and a talk with the deep, meaningful Barney, Ted and Victoria end the story engaged.**

**Most of "An Old Married Couple" is about Ted and Victoria's marriage and how it slowly starts to suffer**, **but don't think their friends' lives aren't going to be any easier either since they're gonna have their problems too. With Ted and Victoria's happiness in the line of fire, will they be able to fix their problems before it ends in a divorce or has far too much damage already been done? Let's find out what happens.**


	2. Isn't Marraige the Best?

(Victoria's POV)

I was running down a street, looking back every couple minutes, a look of fear on my face. The wedding dress that I was wearing got caught in the sewer grate and I tried to pull it free, but it wouldn't budge. I looked up and saw the mysterious shadow coming closer to me. I tried to pull free again, but again, it wouldn't budge. "No, no, no, no, no!" I said, as the shadow came closer. "No, no…"

"NO!" I screamed, instantly waking up from the nightmare. I looked around and saw that I was in **the** house. "Why put emphasis on it?" you ask; well, if you must know this my and Ted's house, our first house since we got married. Yup, Victoria Moseby is a married woman… granted, we've only been married for about 6 months and the wedding was a tad rushed with Robin going abroad for a few months after (that and us losing our payment on the bodega that same day), but I'm happy with this because I'm married to the most wonderful man in the world. Isn't marriage just the best idea ever?

Anywho, I got up from the couch and turned off the TV before taking out the scary movie that I specifically told Ted **not **to put in because I'd have a nightmare, but oh well. I walked back to the couch and laid down next to my husband, Theodore Evelyn Moseby, laying my head on his chest and snuggling in nice and tight. I closed my eyes and dosed off, falling asleep with the man of my dreams.

* * *

(Ava's POV)

Ted and I were just sitting at the booth in McLaren's, when Victoria rushed up to us wearing a red polka-dotted dress and white heels. She asked, "Where is he?" She then noticed Ted and hopped in his lap, before kissing him furiously.

"EWW! God guys, get a room." I said, trying to shield my eyes from their hideous display of PDA. They stopped kissing for a moment and Ted said, "You wouldn't be saying that if Barney were here."

"And speak of the devil." Victoria said as my boyfriend walked into the bar.

"Hey, that's my boyfriend you're talking about!" I said, offended. Victoria simply shrugged and began kissing Ted again with even more vigor than before. "Hey Barney." I called out to him. He waved at me and then I'm assuming he saw their nauseating because he made a disgusted face and would've left the bar, had I not ran up to him and pulled him back to the booth.

Ted and Victoria stopped kissing and she "noticed" him for the first time, sliding off Ted's lap and in the seat next to him. She wiped off some excess lip stick with her pinky finger and then said, "What's up, Swarles Barkley?" The three of us quickly snicker at the long running joke. Instead of getting upset like Barney normally does, he's smiling and that could only mean that something isn't right.

"I'm just hanging with my amazing girlfriend." He then question-complimented, "Isn't she just the most amazing girl you know?"

I turned to Barney. "Are you okay? How many sandwiches have you eaten in the past 24 hours?"

"I haven't eaten any sandwiches." He answered.

"Then what do you want, hone?"

"My mom's in town and I was hoping she could stay at your house." Ted and Victoria exchanged a knowing glance.

"What?!" No offense, Barney's mom is okay, but she HATES me! Loretta's always saying things like "Why are you always with him? Get a life of your own" and "You know, when I was your age, we actually treated our men well". My internal response to that is "Well, sorry Loretta, but it's not 1923 anymore", but in all actuality, I just smile and awkwardly take another sip of my tea or hot cocoa or whatever she made that day. And Barney's oblivious to it also, so that makes it 20 times worse; he's always insisting that me and Loretta "just need to bond" and that she'll "learn to love me over time", but I doubt that we'll ever be able to really get along because she's a prude and she wants me out of Barney's life! Pretty safe to say that my relationship with Loretta isn't the best.

"Barney, why would you invite her to New York when you know I need to renovate the house?" I asked.

"She needed somewhere to stay because she has a termite infestation."

"Well, send her to your place then!"

"I can't send her to the Fortress of Barnitude, she'd make me get rid of it."

"What about Ted and-?"

"Nope." The Mosebys refused together, shaking their head at me.

"Marshall and Lily?"

"I already called them and they refused. Robin's still in Saudi Arabia, so she's out. Guess that only leaves you." I pouted, knowing I was defeated. "Hey," Barney hugged me, "It's only for a week… and a half, but it'll be over soon, I promise. Swing by my apartment later today, I have a surprise for you."

"Fine."

"Thanks." Barney kissed the top of my head and gets up to leave.

"Wait, where you going?" I asked, getting up to follow him out.

"Back to work. See ya."

"Later." I said, giving him a kiss.

"Alright, see ya." Barney exited the bar, leaving me with the husband and wife.

* * *

(Ted's POV)

"I love you." I said to Victoria.

"I love being married to you." She said back to me. We were sitting on the couch in the house, being an absolutely nauseating couple, but it's okay to be that way for 8 months when you get married, so I got two more months of this thing right here.

"I love how I can say anything to you."

"I love talking to you."

"I love staring into your eyes. They're so amazing."

"You're amazing." Victoria started to stand up on her knees on the couch, lust filling her eyes.

"No, you're amazing." I said back, moving in towards her. We began kissing and after a minute, stopped. "Let's take this to the bedroom." I said, picking my wife up and kissing her all the way up the stairs and to our room. I closed the door on our way in and threw her down on the bed. We started doing it and about halfway in, all I heard was a knock on the door. I just ignored it and kept going, but it persisted, getting louder and louder each time.

Eventually, Victoria and I just had to stop what we were doing (much to our discontent) to answer the door. We put on our robes and went downstairs. I opened the door and a surprised Victoria asked, "Klaus?"

"Hey Vickie." The guy, whose name was apparently Klaus, said.

"Who's this?" I asked Victoria.

She turned to me and paused before saying, "This is Klaus… my ex-husband."


	3. Venturing Into Troubled Waters

(Klaus's POV)

"Your ex-husband?" The guy with Victoria asked.

"Yes Ted, my **ex**-husband." The woman answered, "Meaning not anymore. He was my past; you're my present and my future."

She then gave him a passionate kiss, which he started to get into, and before seeing something I truly didn't want to see happen, I said, "I came to talk Victoria."

They pulled away and Ted said to me, "Right. So what brings you to the Moseby Household?"

"Moseby Household?" I asked Victoria with a pained look on my face, "You got married again?"

"I've moved on, it's time you did too." She spoke in a tone I'd never heard before.

"But what about everything we've been through?" I tried to argue, "It's only been three months since-."

"Stop!" She held up a hand and silenced me, just like Trudy used to. "The past is the past, I've moved on. Now you had something to say?"

"Right, right." I composed myself.

"Come inside." She led me in and whispered something to Ted. He nodded before heading up the stairs, leaving Victoria and me alone to chat.

"How could you just remarry like that?" I practically yelled.

After closing the door, she looked at me, seemingly angered by my presence. "I told you never to come back to New York, Klaus!" She screamed, "Why did you come back here?"

"I don't know, how you just remarry given our history?"

"**History! **That's the key word in that phrase: history! We're history. And everything we've gone through: history! Sure everything that happened made me who I am, but we are done, we were done for years Klaus!"

"Well just because we're finished doesn't mean you can just up and marry the next guy you see on the street!" I argued.

"I didn't meet him on the street."

"Then where'd you meet him? At Bean Scene? In the park, huh? Where? Where did you meet the guy that you just got with to get me out of your life?"

"At a wedding." She murmured. "But just because we met at a wedding doesn't mean I had on…"

"WEDDING GOGGLES!" I finished for her. Feeling myself at the edge, I yelled, "You met him at a freaking wedding, Victoria. You can't expect it to last."

"He's my husband and I love him." She defended that sorry sack of a "husband", if you can call him that anyway.

"As much as you loved me?" I asked coldly.

"Get out." She growled, her voice immediately growing low. I sensed I struck a nerve, but me being the stubborn person I am, I defied.

"No."

"Get out of my house, Klaus." She ordered, taking a step closer to me.

"I'm not going anywhere." I stood firm.

"I said get-."

"SHUT UP!" I smacked her with the back of my hand, knocking her down to the ground. The sound that resonated from my hand striking her cheek was loud and I could tell I hit her hard because all I could see was blood coming from the spot where I hit her.

* * *

(Victoria's POV)

"I said get-." I started, when I heard, "SHUT UP!" and felt something hard strike me. I fell to the carpeted living room floor and looked up at Klaus, who was huffing. I put my hand to my cheek and felt something liquid. I removed it and looked to see blood. Ted rushed down the stairs and within seconds, I saw my husband staring down my ex.

"How dare you hit her?!" Ted yelled, fury evident in his face.

I looked between the two, feeling the tension build. I rose to my feet in an instant and got in between the two of them, trying to break them up. "Now guys, how about we just calm down? You know, talk this out like civilized adults and-."

…

I sat up and realized I was in the bed. _How in the world did I get here? _I asked myself, _Wasn't I just downstairs? _I tried to get out of the bed and the moment I stood, I fell back down, feeling a pain on my side. I stood, wincing all the while, and walked to the bathroom, which was right next to the bed. I looked in the mirror and felt as if I was about to cry; I was hideous, a bloodied lip and cheek and black eye being my make-up. I instantly felt a memory surface…

"Please Klaus, I swear, I didn't cheat!" Victoria cried.

"I saw you with him!" Klaus screamed angrily.

"Klaus, I've been loyal to you!"

"That's bullshit and you know it!" He then smacked Victoria and she fell to the ground. She started crying softly and Klaus said coldly, "Go on, cry. Cry you little bitch! This is what you get for not being loyal to me!"

"I-I'm te-telling you I wa-was!" The terrified woman hiccupped, tears flood down her cheeks

"Well I don't trust anything you say!" Klaus struck Victoria again and again and again. He grabbed her by her waist…

I snapped out of the memory, as I felt my waist being grabbed, and screamed as turned around to the assailant, stopping once I saw who it was. "Ted?"

"You okay Victoria? Why are you crying?" My husband asked, concern making up his features.

I sniffled, wiping away my tears, "It's no reason; I'm fine, really."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," I reassured, "but what happened after you came downstairs? I just woke up on the bed."

"You tried to break us up, Klaus hit you, I beat him up and got him out, and then I carried you up to the bed."

"Well, where'd you go?"

"I just had to go for a walk; clear my mind, you know? Now get some rest, I'll be downstairs if you need me." Ted headed for the door.

"Oh and Ted."

"Yes?" He turned back to me.

"Don't go after Klaus."

"But he-."

"Don't go after Klaus." I repeated.

He sighed before saying, "Fine, I promise I won't go after Klaus, but you need to tell our friends about this."

"No way!" I refused. I couldn't have anyone finding out about how Klaus abused me; it's bad enough that Ted knows.

"They need to know, it's only right."

"I'll think about it." I said, deciding to satisfy the pleading man.

"Thank you." He exited the room and I walked back to the bed and plopped down on it, staring up at the ceiling and thinking about what I was going to do with Klaus.

* * *

(Ava's POV)

"He what?" I cried through the phone, shocked at what Ted just told me.

"He hit her. And I don't think it was the first time this happened either."

"So you're saying that Victoria was getting abused by this guy long before this happened?"

"I think."

"But Victoria said not to tell anyone. Why do I know?"

"Because you're my best friend, Ava."

"Ted, this is one heck of a secret you're telling me and Victoria trusted _you _with it, not us. Remember what happened with Stella?" Stella was a girl that left Ted at the altar for her ex-husband a while back. She told him that she hadn't had sex ever since she had her daughter Lucy and Ted told me about it. Eventually, Stella did find out that Ted told me and he was in hot water with her for a while; they didn't break up though.

"Of course I remember what happened with Stella."

"Do you want that to happen with your wife too? I know you don't want to get a divorce Ted. Do you?"

"Of course not, I love her."

"Then don't tell anyone else what you told me and you have nothing to worry about. Now I gotta go, I'm at Barney's."

"Later."

"Later." I hung up the phone and knocked on the door. Barney answered almost instantly, smiling.

"How's my favorite girl in the world?"

"Favorite for now, anyway." I said under my breath.

"What's that mean?"

"Nothing." I said quickly. "Is Loretta here?"

"Not yet, but she's on her way to your place."

"And you had me come here why?" I dropped my purse on his couch. I looked around the room and my eyes landed on his stormtrooper… okay, wrong kind of stormtrooper (but now that I'm thinking about it… okay no, this is supposed to be PG). I mean, Barney has a life-sized stormtrooper from Star Wars in his living room. I looked at the weapon that the overgrown doll had in his hand. If only that thing worked, so I could use it on Loretta. You know, if I find a guy, I could definitely get that thing working… okay, getting off topic, getting way off topic. Anyway, Barney looked at me.

"I brought you here because I need your opinion on something."

"Yes Barney?"

"I need to see if you…" the man reached into his suit pocket while speaking and was burrowing for something. This is the big moment, the one where he pops the question! Okay, I know Barney and I have only been dating for a year and a half, but I really love him and this is perfect timing considering that there may be another thing that he popped out. "…like this program I designed for the dinner tonight." He took out a schedule and handed it to me. My face fell instantly.


End file.
